The syphilis epidemic in Japan is something that has featured on this blog countless times.
Just last year, we wrote about its alarming further growth.
We wish we had something more positive to share with readers, but the news just keeps getting worse.
The total number of cases in 2023 has already exceeded 10,000 — the fastest time this has ever occurred. Medical experts are advising people to get tested even if they exhibit no symptoms in an effort to stop the spread of the disease.
Cases hit 10,103 on September 3, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. That is a full two months and 1.24 faster than last year, which recorded the highest numbers (13,228) ever.
It means that 2023 achieves the dubious distinction of being the fastest since 1999 to hit those infection numbers. It is also quite certain that total numbers for 2023 will exceed 2022’s, which would mean rise in cases three years in a row.
The rise is actually due, in part, to spikes in cases in prefectures outside Tokyo. Though the capital has 2,490 cases and the second biggest city, Osaka, has 1,365, cases reported in more rural provinces like Saga, Nagasaki, and Ishikawa have jumped, indicating syphilis is spreading like wildfire nationwide.
Incidentally, the third largest number of cases is in Fukuoka (not one of the bigger cities like Yokohama or Nagoya).
Cases are highest among men between their twenties and fifties (so, pretty much all sexually active men) and women in their twenties.
There are several factors at play here: the notoriously low condom usage in Japan (not helped, arguably, by the portrayal of sex in adult video, which tends to hide the condoms), the rise of dating apps that have made hooking up for casual sex easier (though other common venues for hooking up, like clubs and bars, have fallen), and the rise of foreign tourists since the 2010s, which might have a small impact.
The sex industry might be responsible to a certain extent too, though sex workers will generally insist on a condom (and a lot of services are nonpenetrative). On the other hand, women engaged in other forms of prostitution like compensated dating and papakatsu, may not.
The explosion of syphilis cases seems unaffected by Covid, even rising during the height of the pandemic, despite the virus (or rather, the lockdowns and so on) being touted for its potential harmful impact on dating for a generation of young people. The rise of syphilis in Japan might also stand as a useful foil to lazy international media articles about “sexless Japan,” since it’s definitely not spread just by coughing near another person.
